KSU

Head Coach Vince Gibson went all out for the purple part of his Purple Pride campaign as the Wildcats took the field in beautiful purple helmets with a purple and white wildcat head on each side. The distinctive cat had a purple nose and white tongue for those who looked closely. With K-State emblazoned across the front and wildcat head on the top of the shoulders of their purple jerseys, Kansas State was ready to do battle. QB Dennis Morrison was back with top receiver Henry Childs, a Georgia native who would later return to the south and star at TE for the Saints for most of his eleven-year NFL career. The rushing responsibilities fell to Don Calhoun who became a solid player in the NFL for nine years, most of it with the Patriots. As the offense bogged down, Gibson turned to soph QB Steve Grogan who proved to be adept at both the pass and the run. The underachieving Wildcats finished '72 with a disappointing 3-8 mark that had Gibson retooling his coaching staff and vowing a return to the "toughness and discipline" that he had first built his program upon. Only the 20-19 win over Kansas brought any consolation to a terrible season. For '73 Gibson installed a Veer-T Option with QB Steve Grogan at the controls and Calhoun and Isaac Jackson as the runners. Still dressed in their purple helmets with purple and white wildcat on the sides the team restored their pride with a 5-6 record that included a season ending upset of Colorado, and a per game offensive average of 321 yards.